Summary:
- The article discusses the potential to extract rare earth elements (REEs) from coal ash, which could provide a sustainable solution for the energy transition.
- Researchers have found that coal ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants, contains significant amounts of REEs, which are critical for the production of various technologies, including renewable energy systems.
- Extracting REEs from coal ash could reduce the need for mining these elements from primary sources, which can be environmentally and socially damaging, and provide a domestic supply of these critical materials for the United States.